System of regenerative control for electric motors.



APPLICATION FILED NOV. 8 1907. RENEWED HAY 20:1910.

Patented Dec. 6, 1910.

INVENTOR g WITNESSES:

ATITORNEY til UNITED sTATnsrATENT OFFICE.

'flENJAlvilN Gl LAMME, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR. T WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

SYSTEM OF REGENERATIVE CONTROL FOR ELECTRIC MOTORS.

emcee.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 6, 1910.

original application filed larch 15, 1906, Serial No, 306,218. Divided. and this application filed November '8, 1907, Serial No. 401,323. Renewed May 20, 1910. Serial No. 562,525.

.lb all whom i may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN. G. LAMME, n citizen of the United States, and a resid nt of Pittsburg, in the county of Allen y. and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvement in Systems of llecenerative Control for Electric Motors, 0% which the following is a specification, this application being a divi sion of application Serial No. 306,218, filed l5, 1.906. invention relates to dynamo-electric urchines and particularly to motors of the nmutetor type of construction having serios connected field magnet and. armature windings. l

The object of my invention to provide a method of, and means for, operating motors oi: the character indicated such that they may be caused to operate as generators, n it stable conditions, or under conditions that may be controlled.

In the operation of an electric railway vehicle, it is frequently desirable, as for instance, when the vehicle descends a grade, to cause the propelling motors to operate as generators in order that the kinetic energy of the vehicle may be saved by converting it into electrical energy and supplying it thus to the distributing circuit. Vehicle motors aregencrnlly of the commutator type 0:? construction and the field magnet and armature windings thereof are usually connected in series relation. It has been found, under certain conditions, that the current supplied. such motors when operating as generators will increase, and this causes an increase of the field strength. This, in turn, causes the voltage of the generator to.in crease ei'nmrmal amounts of power may lit d to the distributing circuit. 1 a motor may operate as a very powernsmic hralto rather than as a. genere- *hat a. motor may be caused to us 2: generator under stable condiunder conditions that may be ovis obviously necessary that the field he maintained substantially conthet it be under control. In two plicutions, serially numbered 306,217 3,218, filed. March 15, 1906, I have both broadly end specifically and claimed.

methods and means whereby such conditions of operation may be secured, According to the arrangements covered specifically in the latter application, of which the presen application is a division, the dynamoelectric machine is connected to the distributing circuit while the field magnet winding is supplied from a phasechanging device that is interposed between the said windin and the distributing circuit, the electromotive force applied to the field magnet winding being of such a phase that the electromotive force applied to the distributing circuit by the armature is approximately in phase with of construction having; series connected field magnet and ernmture windings l and 2 is. connected to. and is supplied from. o H\ll)-- divided transformer winding; 3 to the vurh ous points of sub-division of which are connected stationary contact terminals l with which a movable contact arm 5 is adapted to engage, the voltage applied to the motor being regulated by udpisting the position of the said contact. arm. The transformer Winding 5 supplied from :1 trolley con-- ductm- 7 and a truck rail 8 of an electric railway system upon which a vehicle may he operated by moons of the motor. During normal operution of the motor, the field n'iugnct strength is permitted, as usual, to vary in accordance with the load upon the motor, the speed oi? the motor being ed ustcd by varying the voltage applied thereto. When, however, it is desired to employ the motor as a generator, as, for instance, when the vehicle upon which the motor is employed descends a. grade orcoasts, it is es sentiul that the field magnet strength he maintained substantially constant or he sub ject tomanual control, end, for that reason,

a switch 9 is employed to connect a suitable source of current 10 in shunt to the field magnet winding for the purpose of maintaining the potential difference between the terminals of the lield magnet winding substantially invariable. Any suitable source of alternating current may, of course, be connected in shunt to the field magnet winding 1, but, preferably, the device will derive its energy from the "distributing circuit, and may be a continuously running machine of the induction motor type having two windings 12 and 13 so disposed ,with reference to each other that the phase of the electromotive force applied to the field magnet winding will be such that the electromotive force applied to the transformer winding 3 by the motor, when operating as a generator, will agree in phase with that of the transformer.

The voltage applied to the field magnet winding from the phase-changing device may be so adjusted that it will equal the normal or other predetermined drop of otential in the field magnet winding; that is, under normal conditions of operation of the motor as a generator, the phase-changing device will remain substantially inactive and will not supply current to the field magnet winding nor will it derive current from the motor circuit. However, if the current that traverses the armature falls below the normal value, the deficit of current will be supplied to the field magnet winding by the phase-changing device, and, on the other hand, if the current traversing the motor armature exceeds the normal value, the excess of current will be supplied to the phasechanging device. thus preventing it from traversing the field magnet winding. In this manner, the field strength may be main tained substantially constant.

In the before mentioned application, Serial No. 306,217, I have shown and described means whereby direct current may be prevented from traversing the field ma net winding in order to prevent the-motor trom automatically becoming a generato'r of direct current upon reversal of the connections of the field magnet and armature windings with reference to each other while the vehicle is in motion. A like result may be secured, as indicated in Fig. 2, in which an impedance device 14 is connected in shunt relation to field n'mgnet winding 15, the ohmic resistance of the device being low, as compared with that of the field magnet winding, and its inductive resistance being high as compared with that of the field magnet winding. It will be understood that, when the circuits are so arranged, if direct current traverses the motor circuits, only a very small portion of it will be permitted to traverse the field magnet winding 15, and the field strength will consequently be insufiicient to enable the motor to become a generator of direct current. However, when shown in Fig. 3, in which the field ma et winding 16 1S supplied from the secon ary winding 17 of a transformer '18, the primary winding 19 of which is connected in series with the armature 20. Obviously, the mode of operation remains substantially the same and it is immaterial whether the windings be connected directly in series or not, so long as the field magnet winding is supplied with current that is equal, or proportional in amount, to that which traverses the armature when the machine is operated as a motor.

The invention may also be employed in connection with motors of the series repulsion type as illustrated in Fig. 4 in which the phase-changing device 21 is connected in shunt to the circuit that is traversed by the exciting current of the machine. I

I claim as m invention:

1. The combination with a dynamo-electric machine adapted for operation either as a motor or use generator and provided with series-connected field magnet and armature windin of a source of current to be connected 1n shunt circuit to the field magnet winding when the machine is operated as av generator.

2. The combination with a dynamo-electric machine adapted for operation either as a motor or as a generator and provided with series-connected field magnet and armature windin of a source of current to be connected in shunt circuit to the field ma let winding when the machine is opera as a generator, and means for preventing direct current from traversing the field magnet winding.

3. The combination with a dynamo-electric machine adapted, for operation either as a motor or as a generator and provided with series-connected field magnet and armature windings, of a source ofenergy to be connected in shunt circuit to the field magnet winding when the machine is operated as a generator, the voltage [of the source being approximatel equal to the normal or redetcrmined rop of potential in the ield magnet windin 4. The combination with a dynamo-electric machine adapted for operation either as a motor or as a generator and provided with field magnetand armature windin of means whereby the field magnet win mg is supplied with current proportional in amount to that which traverses the armature when the machine is operated as a motor, and a source of current to be con- 'nected in shunt circuit to the field magnet Winding when the machine. is operated as a generator.

The combination with a dynamo-electric niachine adapted for operation eithenas a motor or as a generator and provided .with field magnet and armature windings, of means whereby the field magnet winding is supplied with current proportional in amount to that which traverses the 3111121 ture when the machine is operated as a motor and whereby direct current is prevented from traversing the same, and a source of current to be connected in shunt circuit to the field magnet winding when 15 the machine is operated as a generator.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my iiame this 29th day of Oct; 1907. i V

BENJ. G. LAMME.

Witnesses ALBERT KINGSBURY, BIRNEY HINEs. 

